Different kinds of work, different kinds of pay: An examination of the overjustification effect

Abstract

The Overjustification effect demonstrates that payment for an activity can have negative after-effects on performance. The implications of this effect for work motivation theory are discussed and it is argued that the overjustification effect is best regarded as being driven by a single source of work motivation (motivation to control). This is contrasted with theories that either advocate two sources of work motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic motivation) or that disregard work motivation in their analysis of the overjustification effect. An economic analysis of the many different instances of people's paid and unpaid activities shows how a motivation to control one's environment induces people to dislike activities that are paid. A distinction is made between payment in general, which is thought to make people regard their activity as one of work and monetary payment, which is thought to make people feel relatively deprived of the outcomes of their work.